U.S. hedge funds control $1.2 trillion, led by J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs

MargotPatrick

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. hedge funds now control $1.2 trillion, Absolute Return magazine said Monday, after sharp gains in their assets last year.

JPMorgan
JPM, +0.76%
the largest manager of hedge-fund assets through its asset management arm, which includes Highbridge Capital Management, grew its funds by 74% to $34.00 billion. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, part of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
GS, -1.93%
was knocked out of the top spot though it increased its assets by 48% to $32.53 billion.

Absolute Return in a survey found that there are 241 U.S. hedge-fund firms managing more than $1 billion in assets, and that 76 of the companies have more than $5 billion under management. It said the largest firms continued to get bigger last year, with the top 20 firms controlling $386 billion, or nearly one-third of the $1.2 trillion total.

Globally, HedgeFund Intelligence, the publisher of Absolute Return, estimates hedge-fund assets of about $1.8 trillion. Other data providers put the number between $1.4 trillion and $2 trillion.

The other top-five firms are Bridgewater Associates, with $30.20 billion, a 47% increase over the previous year; D.E. Shaw Group, with $26.30 billion, up 40%; and Farallon Capital Management, with $26.20 billion, a 59% gain from 2005.

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